Stockholm Syndrome (Tarn x Human Reader)
by cassidyxns
Summary: You can't take anything from someone who has nothing left to lose.


You really didn't do much these days. Back on the Lost Light, you would need a justified excuse for wanting to sit around all day in order to keep Ultra Magnus off your back. But not here. Here, aboard the Peaceful Tyranny, you didn't _need_ an excuse. They could care less if you decided to sleep all day or sit around by the windows just as long as you behaved, considering you were the _only_ hostage and bargaining chip of the Decepticon Justice Division.

To be fair though, you felt more like a visitant than a hostage, considering your treatment wasn't necessarily _awful_. Yeah, at first they kept you locked up in a cage to keep from going underfoot, and to avoid The Pet from getting to you, but after a while they granted you free roam after you proved you were more than capable of staying out of their way. If you remove your formerly busy schedule from the equation, It wasn't much different than how your time on the Lost Light was. Well, except for the key fact that this ship is crewed by sociopathic murderers. It definitely was a culture-shock to say the least.

You knew for a while that the DJD wasn't necessarily fond of having a human roaming around their ship. But, the fear in their expressions easily cancelled out the disgust you thought they had for you. At first you werent sure _why_ they looked at you like that. But you later learned from some over-hearing that Tarn had extreme consequences for anyone that were to terminate you albeit it being _intentional_ or _accidental_ , which kind of gave you some comfort in knowing they are too afraid of Tarn to consider your death worth it. You could almost thank the eloquent Decepticon for that if it weren't for the fact that he was the main reason for you being stuck on this ship to begin with.

It was a no-brainer to everyone _why_ you were targeted. You were quite close to Rodimus and Megatron, the latter resulting in much shock from outsiders considering your species. I guess when you're the only small, vulnerable, and squishy friend of the former Warlord, many look to you for tactics to get to said ex-warlord.

So far, you have been with the DJD for a little over a month. After taking some time to fall into a steady routine, you weren't very hard to find when either Tarn-or someone ordered to scour around for you if he was too busy-needed to check up on you. And by check up on you, it usually means making sure you weren't dead. Today, you could be found sitting by a window looking out at the cosmos with a solemn expression.

You were more than aware of who was approaching you. After some time, you managed to train your ears to tell who's footsteps are who. Usually, though, you could never really figure out the difference between Tess and Helex. But, at least this helped you when it came to telling if Tarn was out looking for you again. You would purposely position herself out in the open, knowing full well there would be consequences if it appeared like you were trying to hide or stow yourself away where you couldn't be seen. You didn't want to break the good streak you've had since arriving here.

You heard Tarn call out to you, addressing you by name. This time, the way he said it seemed a bit more casual, unlike his usual "just-checking-to-see-if-you're-alive" tone.

You turned from where you were sitting, and was surprised to see that Tarn was actually waiting for you to respond. If you didn't know any better, you would be mistaking this for him wanting to begin a conversation with you.

"Hello, Tarn." You greeted almost hesitantly.

"I see you've been hanging around the windows lately." You almost forgot how dangerously observant he was.

"If you're implying that I might be plotting an escape, I'm afraid to say you're wrong." You sighed with a recognizable tone of defeat. "I'd explode in seconds."

"That would be quite a sight." Luckily for you, you were quite good at hiding the stomach-churning feeling that occurred whenever he made a cruel joke. Sometimes however, his dark humor tempted a laugh or chuckle, but you didn't feel like you were quite on that level with the Decepticon.

"Yeah…" you exhaled. "Probably."

Tarn observed you as you turned back and gave a long stare back out the window. He noticed a while ago that his subtle attempts to get a reaction from you were useless.

Even now it impressed Tarn how cooperative you had been with him. A small, vulnerable human, alone in space with a handful of the most dangerous and feared Decepticons alive. It was such an unusual sight for him that he felt himself actually _respecting you_ as if you were a member of his own team. Well, maybe not that far, he would tell himself. But it was close.

You would usually loathe the silence if it weren't for the fact that you were terrified of speaking with him. Yeah, he was the one that made the protective threat, but just because Tarn enforced a rule to keep you alive doesn't necessarily mean he would follow it. You knew enough about him to recognize the fact that he could easily go from chivalrous to murderous if you were to overstep. Even though he had not previously given you a reason to feel this way, you still felt like you were walking on glass whenever he was around.

Both of you were quite good at hiding your true perspective for one another. Respect and fear.

For Tarn, however, he decided he was no longer going to hide it.

"When I first took you, I expected that you'd be a nuisance to deal with." He spoke, the topic seemingly popping up out of nowhere from your perspective. You looked up at him, eyebrows furrowed with a visibly confused expression.

"From the moment you were brought aboard my ship, you were cooperative with me. If it were someone else in your position, Cybertronian or human, I'm certain they would have proven my expectations correct." Tarn continued, looking down at you with a stare that made you feel like you were going to vaporize right then and there.

His expression then softened to the best of what you could see with his mask. "You've proven me wrong at every turn. At first I thought you were just too oblivious to comprehend your predicament."

Your lips curved into a frown at that last comment.

"But it then began to occur to me that wasn't the case." He continued, surprising even himself that he was admitting this to you.

"Simply put, I _respect_ you. It takes a lot of individual strength to remain composed around me and my team. Not many could even come close to your level of self-control." You couldn't even believe what was happening right now. Was Tarn… _Complimenting_ her?

"Uhm…" you scrambled to find the right words to say. You turned away from him and back towards the window with a small flush on your face. "... Thanks."

"It'll be a shame when I'm forced to terminate you." He said nonchalantly, as if he didn't just spend the past few minutes praising you. His body turning away as well, but curiosity took the best of him and he couldn't help but look at you from the corner of his vision to see if you would finally react.

And much to his surprise, you began to chuckle. A very faint smile appeared for the first time since you've been there.

"Yeah, truly a loss to your cause, right?" You immediately regretted what you had just said, your smile forming into a mouth gaping expression of pure horror. When you turned and noticed his optics burning with murderous intent, you knew you had crossed a line. If there was one thing you knew never to bring up, it was the Deception cause, especially as a human _captive_. It would just seem like you were insulting them no matter the context. Oh god, what were you thinking?

Tarn clenched his fists, before snatching down at you with such force you felt the wind get knocked out of you. His grip was painfully tight around your waist and ribs, leaving you struggling more to regain her ability to breath.

The intent to murder was the most recognizable emotion that Tarn had. And usually he didn't have any second thoughts when he felt provoked, but the sight of seeing you writhing in his grip subconsciously triggered him to release and drop you. Fortunately, you managed a decent landing, avoiding any broken bones. When he noticed that he had just spared your life, he immediately began to tell himself that it was because he needed you alive. Nonetheless, the action made you look at him with trembling fear, regardless of what he was thinking. You could care less if he meant it or not, you were terrified. All that effort to gain mutual respect was now lost.

When Tarn had reached down again to make sure you were uninjured, you scurried away from him, revealing a side of vulnerability he had not expected to see from you. It was then that he realized that your non-confrontational behavior was just a cover up to hide how truly afraid you were of the leader. _This_ behavior was very common in his line of duty. This was true fear. He needed to calm you down before you hurt herself.

He reached for you again, but this time he grabbed you despite her efforts to get away. He brought you up and held you against his chest, before taking his other hand, running his sharp digits gently up and down your spine. You kept screaming and crying, punching his chest. You knew you weren't hurting him, it was just pure instinct. After a few minutes though, the surprisingly gentle contact calmed you enough to at least stop assaulting him.

"Shh…"

Your breath hitched. The vibration that ran down your back left you reduced to a shivering, crying mess within seconds, much to your embarrassment. You composed yourself quite quickly, hoping Tarn hadn't noticed.

But of course, he did.

For a moment, Tarn thought the reaction was just a mere coincidence. He was about to just let it go and return you back to your makeshift quarters, when an unintentionally low growl made you squirm.

Oh man, this really changes the game.

He purred your name, his voice dangerously low, leaving you unbelievably embarrassed in his embrace. Never in his life had he thought his voice could even affect an organic. Nonetheless, he also didn't think the reaction would give him such a power trip.

Tarn made a thorough scanning around the area, making sure no one else was present. He didn't need anyone seeing him whispering all sweetly to their captive.

No thanks to your currently voice-drunken state, you had a hard time deciphering exactly what Tarn was saying to you. All you knew was that it was like sweet honey, and it's effects were leaving you hazy, shivering, and completely dazed. You felt absolutely degrading like this, but you couldn't stop him, he seemed to completely have you tranquilized with only a few words. But honestly, you had never felt so at peace before in your life. It was like you were prey being charmed into a false sense of security before being ambushed by a predator.

Tarn couldn't even believe the power he felt, knowing he could captivate such an innocent being like this with little to no effort. He stroked your hair with a digit, watching with contentment. You didn't even flinch. You leaned against his chest, your form similar to that of a limp doll. His gentle whispers had finally lulled you to a deep sleep, leaving Tarn alone to delightfully contemplate this new find.

For a few moments, he stood there with many sick thoughts on what he could do next to you. But, as he looked down upon your sleeping form, he realized that traumatizing and violating an innocent captive was distasteful, even for him. The DJD hunted cowards and traitors, and you were neither of those things. You were just a defenseless prisoner. You had virtually nothing aboard this ship. Sadistic pleasure is not gained by assaulting captives… Because you can't take anything from someone who has nothing left to lose.


End file.
